Are you ever going to release the other 16 alloys with the god metals? Did you decide?
Maybe.
Are you not releasing them because you're still trying to-- you don't want to pin yourself down just in case?
It's part that, but part I know. The more I release, the more distracting it is from the stories and it also prevents me from using them in the stories as reveals.
What got you reading and then later on writing? And also how do you get a child to love to read?
Okay, so what got me reading and what *inaudible* me fall in love with reading and-- initially-- and I'll do the second question in a minute.
So originally I became a reader because of an eighth grade English teacher who handed me the book Dragonsbane. <Any> eighth grade English teachers here? Middle grade English teachers? You guys are awesome. They-- she's actually an *inaudible* professor. I'm still in touch with her. She made a reader out of me by refusing to let me not, you know? I was of age to be reading these books, but I was reading stuff I'd loved in second grade. And she just lovingly got me reading other things.
How do you do that? Well for me it worked giving me the right book. I'm working on this with my seven year old right now. Who i want to be reading Harry Potter with, but he wants to be reading Fly Guy, which is about a boy with a pet fly. *crowd laughs* And so we read what he wants. And I figure if I can get excited about what he loves, and read it with them, that that will work rather than trying to get him to love what I love.
*inaudible*
Yeah, it's hard. I dunno. Ask-- don't ask me. Ask literature people, because I had to have it done to me. So I'm not even sure what happened. But it was like, I read that Dragonsbane, and I came back to my teacher, I'm like, "I can't believe people write books like that." And she's like, "There's a whole genre." *crowd laughs*
Is Adolin and Shallan going to get together, or will Kaladin and Shallan?
That is quite the question. I will eventually answer that, but you are getting Read-and-Find-Outed. It is intentionally a bit of a mimicry of something else that happened in the past.
Who is the Willshaper?
Ok, of the group of the ten...
Have we met the Willshaper?
You have met the Willshaper.
Is it Moash?
That's a RAFO.
Ok. But it was a good guess?
Do you want me to write RAFO in this? You got RAFO'd.
Thanks.
People are really interested in the Willshapers. Has this been a topic of conversation?
*inaudible*...17th Shard. *inaudible*
Yeah, right. The Dustbringer is harder to figure out, I feel like the Willshaper will be a little more obvious once it happens. The Dustbringer is going to be hard.
What happens if you burn duralumin while Compounding?
Duralumin while Compounding. So, what duralumin does is it burns out of all of your metal in one burst. So it doesn't necessarily gain you power, it makes it all happen at the same time. The same thing would happen.
Could you turn into a baby?
Oh, you could totally turn into a baby. That is within the power of using that, doing <health wrong>, yeah you could totally... You'd be really dangerous.
But it wouldn't really do much?
Oh it would have explosive... it does things really fast. That's what it does. Yes you could achieve very powerful sudden effects through that. It'd be scary. Controlling it can be dangerous, regardless of which metal you use.
So if I understand correctly, every Shard has three different states in which it manifests physically in the world, liquid, gaseous and solid. So my question is, Harmony's holding two Shards, is there any bleedover that would make like...harmonium?
In the newspaper pages, one of the essays is on "Does Harmony have a metal?". So this is a question they are asking in-world, that they think should probably be, and if you look around you see strange metals appearing, including one that is highly unstable. Or highly reactive is what I would say, not unstable, because it's not radioactive but it is...yeah, so.
So there's only one Honorspren that got power, and does that mean that no more can get out and are there only *inaudible* Cryptic?
Syl disobeyed what she was supposed to do. However, at the same time, she blazed a trail so there might be others. The Cryptics, on the other hand, they are totally fine with what's happening but Pattern was the one who was nominated, he lobbied for it, to go and be the guinea pig. So the Cryptics are totally all over doing this, they are eager for more. But a lot of them think it is a death sentence, but they're weird, they don't mind it that much.
Why do female*inaudible*
Well, there are several answers to this. The Alethi would say it is because it is the only way to be modest. But that's not the real answer. The writerly answer, which is also not the real answer, is that I grew fascinated by interesting social taboos by traveling to other countries where, for instance in many countries showing the bottom of your feet to people is insulting, and stuff like that. But the actual answer is that, you saw the events after the Recreance when the Knights Radiant abandoned their shards and, at that point, some people in power realized that if they could eliminate women from picking up the shards then it was twice as likely that they would get one. And so they started popularizing a work, an essay by a woman who had talked about feminine arts were one-handed, painting and things like this, and masculine arts were two-handed, breaking rocks and fighting and stuff like this, and they popularized that and some of the women who were involved in this seized writing, in this division, as a feminine thing. So there were both men and women involved in this sort of split that was kind of a conscious attempt to struggle power, or struggle the power in different ways, and that became not just a thing that people talked about, but an actual feature in the society moving forward.
When Lift the Nightwatcher to not change, or whatever it was...
Mm hmm.
...her exact wording. Was that triggered by the loss of a loved one?
There is loss involved......that's a RAFO.
Would you be able to use dental fillings as mini-metalminds?
Yeah, you totally could.
So Shardpools I haven't really understood those, what purpose do they serve?
I have not said.
Do shardpools grant, basically, easier access into the Cognitive or Spiritual Realm--
Yes.
So how much Investiture does Vasher keep on him in Roshar?
Ummm, enough. *laughter*
To be fair I think the hivemind has said that since he can feed off of Stormlight, that’s not really an issue.
But he also has certain levels of Heightening, so you can guess what minimums he has.
Someone else brought up the point, can blood be Awakened?
Anything can be Awakened.
If you make a human-shaped mold and you poured blood into it and you Awakened it, would you have a Terminator T-1000 style blood-golem that could recombine?
Um, heh, well Awakening liquid is possible but I don't think it would work the way you want it to.
If you had enough of a cloud in one place, could you Awaken a cloud?
Um, you could Awaken anything. It's probably not going to work the way you want it to. There is a reason why they Awaken the things that they do. For instance if you want to make a transforming golem, you would be much better off with something thicker.
I've also heard rumor that there's a chronology? <On the cosmere?>
On my computer, yes.
No, that was going to be in [Arcanum Unbounded] or *inaudible*.
No, not a chronology. Not a timeline. I've been preparing one that eventually I'm going to release. But I don't think I'm *inaudible*. I did consider it, but...
Did-- this is RAFO bait, but did Khriss and Nazh happen to meet on one of their planets or in a different location?
Oh, you are RAFO baiting hard.
Yeah, that's RAFO bait.
Is there a way for any of the Shards to circumvent the Cognitive Realm and resurrect somebody?
...So, resurrection in the cosmere is-- depends on if-- where your mind is, and the status of your body, and whether your mind and soul have kind of combined and passed on. If you get to them before that happens, then you can re-attach the soul to the body. And you see that happening in Warbreaker quite often.
The Returned.
The Returned, yeah. You just gotta get the soul before it passes on. Once it passes on nobody knows where it goes.
Now Harmony tells Spook that Kelsier and Vin say hi. So is he able to reach into wherever they are?
He doesn't say that they say hi, he says--
They're doing well.
They're doing well.
Can he see them or communicate with them at all?
He has interacted with them at some point.
If someone breaks a sword and makes an Investiture into both sides of the sword and then re-melds it, will it become one Investiture, will it be destroyed--
Depends on the process that you use for re-melding it.
But it is possible to have any of the outcomes?
It is possible to go both directions.
Someone tries to Awaken a carrot, and eats it. What happens to the Investiture?
The Investiture will be released into the Spiritual Realm like most Investiture that is destroyed.
The man that gives Nightblood to Szeth at the end of Words of Radiance, I don't understand who he is.
...Oh Nale, oh you mean Nale. Nale's one of the Heralds.
But I thought that those guys left? At the be-- In the prequel, at the beginning of The Way of Kings.
They abandoned their swords and went about the world, but did not return to the place where they were supposed to go, which was off-world.
So they just die?
They did not die.
So they're all still out there? Somewhere in the cosmere?
It can be assumed that they are all still out there unless some of them died since then. It was 4,000 years ago.
But the one guy that stayed, went crazy because--
The one guy they abandoned was left in their version of hell, and the rest of them were supposed to return and didn't.
Every day?
Every time they die they're supposed to go back. Or every time the war is over. You are asking good questions, they're questions that will make more sense as the book progresses.
Is it fair to say that when one of those power sources become vacant a person, or something with--
Something can-- naturally will pick it up, yes.
So the other thing I don't understand is in Hero of Ages when Harmony dies. How they became--
Harmony didn't die, you mean--
The man.
Yes, you're talking about the person who was holding the power of Preservation.
Yeah, how did those people become that in the first place?
That is a book I'm going to write eventually called Dragonsteel, that deals with how that came about.
In The Way of Kings, when Hoid is talking to Kaladin and he says his name is Hoid, he said that he took the name from someone else.
He did.
So why is he Hoid in everything else?
Hoid is not his original name.
So...
Does he still go by his original name ever?
I don't know if you've ever seen his original name.
I've read your Master's thesis [Dragonsteel Prime].
Oh, he doesn't go by the name that is in there very often but there are people who know him by that name.
What is his original name?
Well he's assuming that the name he is using in there is actually his original name. He's using the name Cephandrius. Which you're assuming is his original.
Closer to the truth than Hoid is.
It is closer to the truth...
Cephandrius is closer to his original name than Hoid, it's an earlier alias.
Well Hoid was one of his very first aliases.
So I stand corrected.
But, Cephandrius is more him.
Does he still go by his nickname he got.
To some people, Topaz.
Cephandrius Maxtori.
Are you willing to comment on what it is that provides Frost's longevity, is it something innate to his race or some--
It's racial.
So I’m a big Terry Pratchett fan, and my dad, he got a Ankh-Morpork city map. Do you have any large maps--
Large scale maps?
You know we have-- I actually have that same Ankh-Morpork map and I'm like "We gotta do something like this" but it's-- that’s down the road because that is so detailed.
The thing that I would like to do would be a cosmere star chart, that’s large scale, but we have to get a little further, introduce you to a few more planets before we can do that.
Nightblood, is that going to be using Stormlight?
Yes, Nightblood can feed off of any Investiture, including the one inside of people's souls. Which is what kills them.
So that scene in Warbreaker when Hoid is doing the storytelling with sand, was he doing--
There is indeed some sand in there.
Is it sand mastery though?
There may indeed be, not everything he's doing is sand mastery, but there may indeed be some things involved in that.
And we changed Hoid's appearance, in the White Sand.
I couldn't even find him.
He's just, as I remember it--it's been a long time--I think he's just one of the cases Ais mentions talking about.
Oh yeah, he's in the letter, no that’s someone else.
No he's just one of the people Ais' been chasing. There's just this one case that is mysterious to him. Like remember a lot of the early Hoid things were really obscure mentions.
What is the Shard on White Sand? Because we've both read White Sand.
The Shard-- So what the Shard is doing is, the Shard is the Sand God. But I didn't bring it out much, there's only one Shard on the planet. And the Shard actually kind of resides in the atmosphere and stuff like that but we decided to bring the Shard out a little bit more in the comic book so when you read that you'll be able to find a little more.
Does it take effect in the Darkside?
Yes, it does.
When will we find out about the other effect of burning lerasium?
Ummm, you-- I think it-- Ehhh, maybe eventually. I don't know. Not as relevant as it once was.
I am also wondering, does atium actually still regenerate?
Atium does not regenerate.
It stopped when--
It stopped when Ati stopped existing. Yep.
Will we ever see more beads of lerasium?
That's a RAFO. Definitely a RAFO. It's-- It would require some... *sighs*
So as I was researching all the stuff for trivia, I must say I was-- I became intrigued with the idea of duralumin and bendalloy or cadmium and whether or not it might have something to do with your FTL?
It's a good theory. That's a really good theory.
Would you like to expand on that?
No, that's it. That's a good theory.
How... Where would be the... How are you expecting to sell "Screenshot"?
Snapshot?
Yes, Snapshot. That one.
I am expecting to do a limited edition and ebook simultaneous. Steve Diamond, who does... *unintelligible* bookstore guy. He's local, you guys know Steve Diamond. He wants to start up a company doing that, and I told him he could have Snapshot if he did. And so it will probably be like that. He'll do it-- a nice little really-- I just don't expect that our company is ever going to do leatherbounds of any of the short fiction with-- except the possibility for Emperor's Soul. So yeah, that's the plan right then. If that happens it's next Spring's novella release.
Okay. Just can't go six months without publishing a new book.
Eh. Next year's gonna be something, because right now it's only Snapshot and Stormlight 3. I haven't--
"Only." *group laughs*
So I've got a question about the Selians in Secret History.
Okay.
It seems... It seems pretty clear that they're Selians. Or people from...
Yes.
...the planet Sel. Is that the right term? Selian? I don't know...
Um... *sigh* I get this one mixed up. Peter knows. I know I've called them Selish before, but I think we went with Selian because it sounded too much like "selfish". But we did canonize it, and it probably is in the essays, I think. But Peter knows the canon term.
Okay. What era are they from? Are they from like the... are they from the... the original...
They are old! [very drawn out "old"]
Were they part of the society that built Elantris?
So, someone asked me this coming through the line, and I RAFO'd them. But they are old.
They are old.
They are old, old people. Here's the thing. You give me the opportunity to wiggle around, because I could say, "No," if anyone has joined them since then.
It's true.
Does that make sense?
Yeah.
Not canonizing anything right now, but that question is so wiggle-aroundable. And I took the opportunity not to wiggle around it and just tell you they are old.
They are old. Got it.
The organization is old. And some of the people that you meet there are very old.
Were the epigraphs meant to be in order? If so, reading them all straight through it seems Sazed keeps going off on tangents, seems more stream of consciousness than we're used to seeing from Sazed...
They are in order, but there are large gaps of text left out. So you're not getting the whole thing, just the 'good parts' versions. That's why it feels jumpy.
In one of the bumps, Sazed mentions a discussion between Vin and Ruin in which Vin asks Ruin why she was chosen to release him from the Well. Did this discussion occur in the in-between afterlife where Vin, Elend, Kelsier, etc., were, or did it occur off-screen while Vin and Ruin were busy stopping each other from affecting the world?
I was fairly sure she asked it while she was a prisoner of Yomen, but I could be wrong.
Yes, as has been pointed out, that's in the text—unless I cut it during editing for pacing issues. If I did, the conversation still happened, but it just didn't get shown on
When the Kandra get their spikes back, do they remember who they were, or have they been "rebooted"?
They remember, though some things are vague or foggy in their minds. Depends on the individual.
Did Vin's mother actually have a spike, or was she so crazy that one wasn't necessary for Ruin to influence her?
She was crazy enough on her own.
In an annotation from book one, it is mentioned that The Lord Ruler needed all three magic systems in order to do what he did. I always assumed that it meant his Hemalurgy enhanced his Allomancy. Did Marsh get a double power, or is the Feruchemy-Allomancy combo enough? (a sidebar to this question is whether or not stacking abilities is possible through Hemalurgy)
He used Hemalurgy to pull off his most dramatic effects. Marsh didn't need them, but it makes things much easier.
A modern world update for a future Mistborn trilogy probably wouldn't involve as much metal, unless Mistings were rare, which apparently will not be the case. I'm thinking more like plastics, ceramics, fiberglass, and silicon. I mean for cars and guns and all that.
Yes and no. For the rich, this would be an option. But much like using metal weapons in the Mistborn world, it isn't always an option for everyone. You will see both.
Lemme guess, the "Mistborn" following Vin was actually Ruin, since Elend never actually saw him, and he disappeared every time Vin got close?
Yes.
Why did Ruin give off Allomantic Pulses? Because Preservation did and they're two sides of the same coin? Allomancy is of Preservation, so I figured that's why he did...
Manifestation of the awesome power he held, mixed with Vin's increased ability to sense these things. Allomantic pulses are like a ripple of sound in the fabric of creation itself—the power of creation being used, creating a drum beat to those attuned to it. Ruin created a similar beat when his consciousness was near.
I'm sad Ten Soon never got to talk to Vin again, since it was apparent they both missed each other.
Remember that TenSoon, with spikes, can communicate more easily with those on the other side....
Who were Ruin and Preservation? I mean, when they died, they had bodies, like Vin. And you went as far as to describe their hair color (Red and Black, respectively). Preservation even had a prominent nose. Why describe their dead bodies, if they weren't at one time mortals themselves? They created humans, but were at one time human themselves?
RAFO. (Sorry.)
Was there ever anything to Reen's obsidian?
Reen's obsidian was a memento from his father, the parent he didn't share with Vin. I carried a small piece of obsidian like this for many years. It has no story function other than being important to Vin as a keepsake.
Spook gets repaired, does Cett get his legs?
To give humankind the best shot at survival, Sazed repaired all genetic defects and physical ailments in the people who were in the storage caches. So yes, Cett can walk. He was so shocked by this that he spent the entire epilogue walking around in the cavern, marveling.
Does Wit go to-- uh... what's that one place in The Way of Kings... The one place they go to, aft... The end of the book. Uh, I can't remember it now. *someone suggests something* The city they go to at the very end.
Of Way of Kings?
Not Way of Kings, uh...
Words of Radiance.
Words of Radiance, yes. Does Wit go there?
Radiance. Urithiru?
Urithiru! Does Wit go to Urithiru?
By the time that a certain somebody at the end shows up there. Wit is no longer with her, and nobody knows where he went.
Oh, he disappeared again! *others comment*
He tends to do that. What's that? So Wit has been lost. He will show up at some point in the book... But yes, he will at least have the Epilogue.
What's your stance on fanfiction?
I approve of fanfiction. *brief interruption* I think that there are many pros in the field who started in fanfiction, so it can be a springboard to professional writing. Most painters don't start by-- with their own style. They start by imitating a style. I also take the oppos-- the other stance of, if you just do it because it's fun, there's nothing wrong with that either. I'm unlikely to read the fanfiction set in my worlds, but it is also perfectly okay to do.
Couldn't think of any [questions], but I would just like to say that I would like to punch Kelsier in the face now, so... *group laughs*
He usually deserves getting punched in the face. *group laughs* If you were to meet Kelsier on the street, you can guess he has something that he's done that makes him deserve to be punched that day. *group laughs*
*reading a question from a friend* He asks you, "How a dead Splinter [Sliver] can interact with the physical world," and the follow up, "What could they do?"
A dead Splinter... So something like a dead...
Someone who's held the power and let go of it, so someone like... someone like...
Someone like the Lord Ruler.
Yeah, Lord Ruler or Vin or <someone like that>.
Okay, so... How could they interact with the world?
Yeah, the physical world.
So they would have some of the same problems that Kelsier had. But would have slightly more advantages than him. So for instance, speaking to the mad is something they could probably do.
Because Kelsier can't do that.
What's that?
Because Kelsier can't?
He can't?
He can?
Yeah, in Secret History he's able to speak to them. He has a lot of trouble getting through, but he can. So yeah. So I-- read Secret History and... *stutters* <a bunch> of the same answers. But they would be slightly more Invested than Kelsier was... No, but then he... yeah... They'd be about roughly the same.
